Richie's Picks: KNIGHTS OF THE HILL COUNTRY by Tim Tharp, Knopf, August 2006, ISBN: 0-375-83653-5; Libr. ISBN: 0-375-93653-X

What is this world coming to? Two football stories worth my talking about in the same year? What is next -- me out there barbecuing tofu at a tailgate party?

"Taking up my middle linebacker spot, I knew Wynette had to pass. The smart play would be to shoot a short one out to the sideline, get out of bounds, maybe move the chains, but something told me that old camel-faced Titans coach would think that was too obvious right now. They'd try and be too smart for their own good.
"I was right.
"The center snapped the ball on a quick count, and the quarterback swiveled towards the tailback, and that's when I stopped time again. The tailback froze behind the left tackle, the quarterback leaning towards him like he was going to hand the ball off. A surprise running play. Only it was a fake and I knew it. The guard was already starting to pull back, which he wouldn't do on a run -- nobody would run off tackle in this situation unless they was crazy or stupid.
"No, they was pulling the same play they nearly fooled me on a while ago. No doubt about it.
"The easy thing to do would be to just lay back and wait for the split end to cut across the middle and bat the pass down or maybe even intercept it, but right now wasn't about the easy thing. Blaine told me to get them suckers for him, and by God, I was going to get them.
"First, I charged in like I was aiming for the tailback, but instead I dodged right into the backfield. The guard seen me, but I flew past him before he could pull his cleats up out of the ground. The quarterback wasn't looking at nothing but that big fat clearing I left open in the middle of the field. He planted and cocked his arm, ready to fire off one of them perfect spirals over the line to number eighty-eight. Man oh man, he could taste him a touchdown, sweeter than apple pie with ice cream on top.
"But it was too late.
"He wasn't throwing no more touchdowns today. He wasn't about to turn my best friend's fumble into no giant sack of back-crushing rocks. I smashed into him at full speed, banging my helmet straight into his shoulder, busting through him as easy as one of them paper banners the team runs through at the first of the game. Then, there it was, the ball bouncing loose, springing up with perfect timing into my hands. I didn't even have to slow down. I just tucked that ball under my arm and blew towards the end zone like a cool breeze in July."

Back when Hampton Green was nine years old, his father abandoned the family. Hampton and his mom had moved downstate to a modest rental in Kennisaw, Oklahoma. Mom landed a job in a store and, in the ensuing years, has gone through a series of boyfriends. During those years she has never been there emotionally for Hampton.

Hampton's salvation since moving to Kennisaw had been his long friendship with Blaine Keller. A generation ago Blaine's dad had been part of the Kennisaw Knights high school football team that went undefeated for five straight years. Blaine and his dad taught Hampton the game of football and now the two friends are seniors and stars on this generation's miracle Knights team, aiming at completing their own fifth undefeated season to match that legendary streak of the past.

But Blaine has been trying to hide from the adults how badly his knee was injured in a game at the end of the previous season. It becomes painfully clear to us that the increasingly bitter Blaine Keller -- with his unforgiving father on his back -- is not going to achieve the greatness beyond high school that he's got all his chips riding on. Meanwhile, the big, redheaded, six foot-four Hampton is only getting better as he continues to develop his unmatched intuitive sense of the game.

Unfortunately, Hampton doesn't have the same intuitive sense when it comes to school assignments or to talking with girls. But on the plus side, despite being in the position to ride Blaine's coattails and consort with the most popular girls at school, Hampton has developed a quiet admiration for a shy yet articulate girl with baggy clothes named Sara Reynolds whom, thanks to her wild hair, the popular kids scathingly refer to as Bush Girl.

It is Sara who has some important things to teach Hampton.

"Darnell didn't see how nobody with an ounce of brains could fight for the Confederates and Lana said she had ancestors that was on the South's side and they was fighting for a way of life and old-fashion family values.
"Darnell turned over to me. 'Can you believe this girl, Hamp? You explain it to her. I'm wore out.'
" 'I don't know that much about it,' I said. looking down. Last thing I wanted to do was get balled up in a controversy. As good of a fighter as I was on the football field, I hated a argument in civilian life. Darnell was my best friend after Blaine and he was black, so I wasn't about to take the South's side, but I didn't want to hurt Lana's feelings neither. Besides, I didn't know but what Sara might have some relatives from the South somewheres along the line too.
"Darnell threw up his hands. 'How about you Sara? You're smart. Let me ask you. Was slavery wrong?'
" 'Of course,' she said.
" 'Well, then, let me ask you another thing. What reason could anyone have for fighting on a side that wants to own slaves?'
"Sara was quiet for a moment, her long lashes shading down over her eyes. 'Well,' she said finally, 'I guess a lot of folks want to be part of a side so much they just go along with what their side says is right.'
" 'Even when it's really wrong,' Darnell threw in.
" 'That's just it,' Sara said. 'Some people don't know who they really are themselves, so how are they going to know what they think is right or wrong?'"

"Can you hear me, the sound of my voice?
I am here to tell you I have made my choice"
--Todd Rundgren, "Just One Victory"

One of the seminal themes in young adult literature involves adolescent characters learning to speak, and to speak up, as they create their own voices and identities. Hampton's innocence and blind loyalty to Blaine have totally impeded his ability to develop that individual identity and voice, but with the end of high school in sight we are rooting loudly for this big, goodhearted Oklahoma kid with his "durns," "done alreadys," and folksy metaphors, to heed Sara's lessons and become his own person.

Richie Partington
http://richiespicks.com
BudNotBuddy@aol.com ( )

Rating: A

I read this story over the weekend, and I found it to be really good--very Friday Night Lights (and I LOVE Friday Night Lights). Hampton Green, the afore-mentioned star linebacker is a likeable character (if you can get around his bad grammar and southern dialect and affinity for idioms like "He doesn't give a day-old donut" and "Boy Howdy!")

Also, the girls in Hampton's life (the not-so-cut-out-to-be-a-football-player's-girlfriend Sara, and the way-too-typical-football-player's-girlfriend Misty) are really well done. There's scene in which Sara and Hampton are riding with two of Hampton's friend and she puts herself out there, inviting him to do something with her family (because she eschews high school pecking orders), but his friend is blatantly rude. I felt super bad for her and felt her character really come out at this point. Plus, Misty should be a charicature, but she gets some redeeming play in the end of the book.

You want to not like Hampton's best friend, Blaine, but you have to. (Or you at least have to feel pity for him.) Either way, all the characters are well-developed. Another benefit to this book was that the conflict, albeit on a high school, still felt genuine to me. I got it.

The only drawback, what brought this from an A+ down to an A was the dialect. I understand the hill country of Oklahoma probably has a strong sense of language (use of "hisself" rather than "himself"), but it made for herky-jerky reading in my particular case. If that could have been dialed back just a touch, it would have been completely spot-on for me as a Midwestern reader. I think I'll be picking up some more of Tharp's books. ( )

This book is very well written by the author I don't really like to read but I brought myself to read this book because I like sports and it was a vey good book.The main character is suffering in his life and football is all he has anymore,his father left when he was young and his mom has a new man every week.So he has to deal with it and focus on football and becoming a legend.The knights are 1 undefeated season from becoming legends and they have basically locked it up because the last game is against a vey weak team so they should win easily.They went to easy and lose and don't become legends and nobody can believe it.So him and his buddy just let themselves go and they are just so deppressed and start doing bad things. ( )

Tharp’s fine novel features gradually evolving and growing characters and a riveting football story. Hampton Green, a linebacker and Blaine Keller, the quarterback are both headed for college. Blaine is the leader and Hampton is the dumb jock follower. When Blaine ruins a knee, but refuses to tell anyone, his performance falls off. This failure of the body serves as a metaphor for the importance of dealing with the whole person. Hampton gradually begins thinking more and more for himself, but without throwing away his loyalty to friends, even friends who do dumb things--until they force him into choosing between basic human morality and blind mob mentality. The story is handled with grace. This is the book to give to the person who says they do not like sports books! Highly recommended for high school libraries. Along with Samurai Shortstop, the very best sport’s fiction, and among the very best books published in 2006.

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